Chapter-2

'Its true. I am really in hell.'

This realization caught up with me the moment bell rang like Bael said it would. Just like he said, some guy in weird attire appeared beside me. I was waiting for him to guide me towards whatever madness awaited me while he kept staring at me with hard eyes, but, as soon as ringing of the bells stopped, he smiled. Even before I could process the meaning of his smile, we were transferred into another huge area.

One moment I was sitting on an imaginary bed and the next, I am standing amid a bunch of strangers in some other place and I have no idea how this transfer happened.

Now, wandering around this vast area, I kept reminding myself that this isn't any dream.

This place isn't much different from the one I woke up to. Similar fumes were dancing on the floor, and sky marked the roof. Only difference was; this place is dark.

It's not kind of darkness where you don't see other peoples faces. It's the kind of darkness that makes even a kids face to appear terrifying.

Flickering lights of dancing flames emerging from piers that were lit all around made the aura even more dangerous yet beautiful.

I've always been a person who enjoyed the beauty of darkness. As a kid, I learned to appreciate the opportunities darkness brought. As a teen, I enjoyed the high it gives and as an adult, I made darkness my home seeking shelter and peace in it. And even for me, this place felt eerily disturbing.

As my eyes kept wandering, I found several other people watching around. Eyes of few held fascination while others showed fear.

May be these are the people who have 'got lucky enough to be selected for this game' along with me. If that's the case, these will be the people I need to win against.

None of them seemed like much of competition though. There was a young guy in swimming gear, a woman in army attire, one in her night wear, an elderly guy with balding head and a pot belly and many more but out of all, one girl caught my attention the most.

A young girl, probably in her late teens with cute little shorts and tee which did almost nothing to hide those perfectly carved curves. A tiny creature with a face of an angel and body that can make any guy sin. Had I met her on earth in any other circumstances, I would totally do her. Now, she will be an enemy. A competitor in need to get rid of and a weak one in that matter.

It felt nice though, to realize that my hormones are still working even in a place like this.

Her eyes captured more of my attention than the beauty radiating from her though. They were different from everyone around here.

Neither did they hold fascination, nor did they have any hint of fear. They were blank. She kept scrutinizing her surroundings as if she were looking around a bland museum.

Suddenly, the lights turned brighter and place turned out to be quite bringing me out if her thoughts. All the earlier gasps and moans were suppressed under the fear and apprehension of what next few moments would bring us.

Huge group of tens of men led by another group and followed by various animals appeared in front of us. All of them were dressed in suits made of various shades of black and stood in what seemed like a weird formation.

A tall guy, with rugged but handsome face and a body that can bring any model to shame stood in the centre. A step below him stood another man with bored and cunning expression on his face.Below them were a group of men with animals beside them.

Bael, the guy who I met few hours earlier was the one among them with his toad and cat beside him. There was another set of men below them completing the formation.

They were all lost in talking among themselves. Few of them looking at us with eyes judging and assessing.

Then, it started again. The ringing of bell, but this time it was louder, sharper and accompanied by trumpet sound.

As the bells continued to ring, environment around me started to change. The open space I was standing in which seemed to have no ends earlier, started to shrink leaving just enough space for all of us to gather around, which turned out to be a circle of more than few kilometers radius.

Suddenly, loud wails started to disturb the calmness around me. As I turned around towards the source of noice, I met with the biggest shock of my life.

Below the place we were standing on, lied many other circular areas arranged in layers. Every next circle was bigger than the one above it in area, giving a perfect view of all the layers from the place we are standing.

It's like a flag post with each layer representing a step. Only difference is, these where huge and the steps weren't connected to each other.

Every circle floated in dark space on its own. The construction of these circles may be breath taking but the scenery each circle hosted was something that could actually make you hold your breath.

Each circle held group of millions and billions of people l, shouting and crying. There were fumes coming from one with people burning in it. Greenish liquid raining from clear sky burning and blistering skin in another.

One hosted a huge river with people trying to swimout of it only to get pushed back. These were just the top few circles and many more lied below them.

The cries and wails from people were reverberating in the air making it all too real and eerily frightening.

I have seen hundreds of torturing devices, learned about thousands of methods to torture people to bring truth out of them but the sight of all these people suffering without a possibility of escape made a small shudder run down my spine.

If this could affect me the way it did, I am sure most of the people here are already freaking out. As soon as the thought entered my mind, my eyes automatically turned towards the girl I found earlier expecting to find her quivering, but the moment my eyes found her, it was my turn to be shocked again.

She wasn't afraid. Not the least bit. Her eyes were scrunched together with a mild disgust maring her face but she didnt take off her eyes from the scene in front of her even for a second. She was studying the scene with utmost concentration. Good. Looks like little girl had some backbone. She ll need it with all the cruelty surrounding this place.

A loud sound of animals screeching made me shift my concentration from the beauty infront of me, towards the beauty transforming in the middle.

Animals, which were until now, just silent companions of the men sitting in the centre now became a part of them.

The guy in the centre, now had huge wings. His suit turned into tunics. My eyes wandered around all those men to find similar changes.

Bael, the only guy I knew among them, now had three heads. The toad and cat which always accompanied him became part of him. Same happened with almost all the men.

They morphed into a weird species made up of two or more animals. All the suits they wore changed into silk garments while few of them stood in their naked glory.

They all stood silently with their heads high, eyes looking straight into worlds beyond us.

For few moments, pure silence filled with appreciation and fear filled the area.

As soon as the ringing of bell stopped, they reverted back into their human forms and they were back to casually conversing among themselves leaving us to reel in the shock of witnessing something so... magical.

After what felt like hours, the guy in the centre stood up silencing everyone around.

"Ok everyone. Enough of idle talks. Let's get done with the purpose of this meet and get back to our works," he started.

"Welcome to hell kids. I hope all of you came to peace with the fact that you are all dead now. This is no place for whining. If anyone still have doubts about death let me know. I ll make sure all your doubts are cleared," he said in a voice which promised torture to who ever tried to raise their voice.

"Good. Smart choice everyone. Now coming to the introductions," he stopped for a second.

"I am Lucifer. Few of you call me Francis, few Hades and few Yama. Whatever may be the name you use, I am your god of death. Ruler of hell." He announced in a proud voice looking at us.

"This is my second in hand. Satan as you people call him," he said pointing towards the guy standing beside him. This man looked like a perfect embodiment of cruelty.

"These are all my rulers and the men standing below them, are my dukes," he finished.

"I am sure you are all wondering about the reason for you being here," he continued making my interest, which was dulled due to all those unnecessary introductions, perk up.

"Like you were all informed earlier, you are all selected for annual ritual, which gives you an opportunity to get your life back with a clean state," he said.

"200 souls were selected for this competition and there will be one winner. The rules are simple. Survive. The one who makes it to the end wins."

"This year, the theme of the fight and the site were all work of our Paimon, and I am quite curious to see the end result of his creativity."

"Out there in the arena, your humanly needs will all return. Hunger, thirst, lust, love and fear... its all there. The one who wins over them all stands as the winner. Any doubts?" he questioned and when no one answered, he continued.

"Alright then. Moving further, you will be performing several tasks throughout and your soul remains eternally in the very task you fail."

"There are few souls among you, whose sins deserve only a minimal punishment. To be fair for them, I decided to present them with a choice to quit now. Quit now and you will be punished according to your sins. This is your only chance."

"Read out the list of souls we made. The ones who can use this opportunity," he ordered.

With that, one of the dukes started reading out names which included the women in army uniform who I noticed earlier and few others.

My mind skipped all those names and went into a zone of preparation until a name caught my attention.

"Angela," he called out looking at the girl who captured most of my attention tonight.

"What? But I killed him. Didnt I? Isnt he dead?"

...